SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
It's almost fall, which means peak sports season in the U.S. The NFL and college football get going. Baseball enters the final pennant race homestretch. And every other year, at least, golf has the Ryder Cup, the confusing international tournament with memorable team outfits and often a whole lot of drama. Team Europe's captain, Luke Donald, will announce his six picks for the remaining slots on the European team. Keith Jenkins is an ESPN writer and is joining us as the U.S. team gets its final players together as well. Welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
KEITH JENKINS: Thanks, man. It's a pleasure.
DETROW: So I'll say this. I have at times in my life gotten very into the Ryder Cup.
JENKINS: Yeah.
DETROW: And even then, I have been deeply confused about its exact format and points system. Let's just start super basic. What is it about the Ryder Cup that's different than the other big golf tournaments we think about and talk about?
JENKINS: Yeah. I mean, well, first of all, it's a team competition, right? Like, golf is an individual sport. It's the guy against the guy, the guy against the course. It's the one golfer that gets all the glory, the accolades, the paycheck. But this is different. This is a team of 12 of the very best golfers from the United States taking on 12 of the very best golfers from Europe. So this is a bragging rights, country pride, you know, our guys versus your guys. Which homeland has the best golfers? It's a way to say goodbye to the summer and just a way for these guys to compete, showcase the game's very best and maybe pick up some more fans in the process.
DETROW: It's been a year where golf has been back in the movie theaters. Golf has been the subject of popular TV shows. It's been a while, since, like, the Tiger Woods era, that I feel like golf has been this much in pop culture. Like, what has the Ryder Cup's role over the years been in painting the picture of golf for people?
JENKINS: It's an opportunity to see guys like Scottie Scheffler, who has been dominant over the past few years and really becoming the biggest star in the game of golf, taking on guys like Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose and some of the best European players. These are all the big-name stars that you're looking to capture in one tournament, in one event. And that's the coolest part of this.
DETROW: It's a team situation. Like, I'm thinking of, like, the Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia era, like...
JENKINS: Yeah.
DETROW: ...Wild Ryder Cup of the '90s, and you have - like, I just remember, like, the players running onto the course and cheering each other and, like, thinking, like, you don't see team aspects in golf at all other than this.
JENKINS: There's a great team atmosphere. And look, when you're playing with your country's flag on your back, there's a little more pride involved, right? It's like when every four years, we get a little more excited for the Olympics. It gives a little more passion, a little more drama to the event. You mentioned Tiger Woods. And there was - the sport was extremely popular - right? - during his peak, late '90s, early 2000s, when he was dominating. We had never seen anything like this in golf. And he brought eyes that people who had never - I was Tiger Woods for Halloween in sixth grade. He was such a transcendent star. And then seeing him on Sundays on that leaderboard wearing red, it just brought a special energy to golf...
DETROW: Yeah.
JENKINS: ...And more eyes. And golf is kind of falling off a bit. And I think that's what golf is trying to do, is get younger - people's attention spans are shorter and shorter. So you're trying to figure out how to pierce through the noise. And that's something that you'll see a lot with the Ryder Cup, is it's really a competitive, fun atmosphere, but also, there's some drama involved and competitive. So this is a fun kind of way to cap the summer and really put golf in a special light.
DETROW: I mentioned the European team is filling out its roster on Monday. What are you looking for there? What questions do you have about that?
JENKINS: Yeah. It's really just to see how the overall field shapes out. But who are some of those other guys that Luke Donald wants to kind of cap the field with? Maybe there's some intriguing names, some little-known names that he'll go with. What was his strategy as he's, you know, putting together? Does he want some long drivers, some great putters, just some great chemistry guys that he knows will perform well together? So it's kind of interesting to see what the strategy is. So we'll see how the Europeans counter his 12, and really - we get a really fun view of what the 12 guys will be when these guys tee off in end of September.
DETROW: That was Keith Jenkins, ESPN contributing sports reporter, giving us a preview of the upcoming Ryder Cup. Thank you so much.
My pleasure.
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